06-02-2005, 06:42 PM
I suppose it is possible, but it doesn't seem to be likely to me. It wouldn't be a bad idea, since I have heard that horses generally don't like the smell of camels, and avoid them.
It seems that camels have a greater instinct for self-preservation than horses, and are reluctant to charge into a melee merely because some human wants them to. The Arabs knew / know about as much about camels as anyone, and the horse was their preferred battle steed from the time of Mohammed up to Lawrence of Arabia. Yes, camels can be ridden into a battlefield; and with rifles you might be able to use them for mobility around a battlefield; but the Arabs did not use them for shock combat. Camels were used on campaign as early as the later Assyrian period; there is a bas-relief of a couple of Arabs fleeing an Assyrian attack on a camel.
It seems that camels have a greater instinct for self-preservation than horses, and are reluctant to charge into a melee merely because some human wants them to. The Arabs knew / know about as much about camels as anyone, and the horse was their preferred battle steed from the time of Mohammed up to Lawrence of Arabia. Yes, camels can be ridden into a battlefield; and with rifles you might be able to use them for mobility around a battlefield; but the Arabs did not use them for shock combat. Camels were used on campaign as early as the later Assyrian period; there is a bas-relief of a couple of Arabs fleeing an Assyrian attack on a camel.
Felix Wang
